Computer networks involve two or more computer systems configured to communicate with each other, one or more of which may be servers. Specifically, servers are computer systems that are configured to offer services to other computer systems in the computer network. Typically, each server in a computer network includes one or more sets of configuration data associated with software applications installed on the server. Configuring some or all of the software applications using the configuration data is broadly referred to as configuring the server. Therefore, the configuration data associated with the software application(s) may be collectively referred to as server configuration data.
To update server configuration data, one of two strategies is typically implemented. One strategy is for an administrator to perform a manual update of server configuration data on each server that requires updating. Another strategy is to maintain a central configuration server, where other servers in the computer network communicate with the central configuration server to obtain up-to-date server configuration data.